"Paint" By Number Challenge

Here is another Papertrey Ink Challenge (I'm outdoing myself :)

The color palette was based on the first letter of your online user name. Since I go by Kimberly Ann my color palette was as follows:



I didn't quite have all the colors in the Papertrey cardstock so my supplies were as follows:

Cardstock:
White, Ripe Avocado, Raspberry Fizz by Papertrey
Pumpkin Pie & Really Rust by Stampin Up

Stamps:
Turning a New Leaf by Papertrey, Sentiment from Fall Elegance by Papertrey

Ink:
Versamark, Dark Chocolate by Papertrey

Other:
White satin ribbon from Michaels, White Perfect Pearls from Ranger, Scallop border punch from Stampin Up, Clock and circle clip from my own stash.

PAPERTREYink Challenge

I have been promising myself over and over again that I am going to participate in a challenge, and more specifically a Papertrey Ink challenge. Well, here it is, a frantic two hours later. I must have embossed 10 of these sets of trees before I got something close to what I wanted. Then I spent a half hour looking for my camera. Can't participate in a challenge purely on a written description of your card - though I was almost prepared to do that when I found the camera (it was on my nightstand - had to use stealth to get it, husband was asleep - so I wrapped my flashlight in my pajamas and had enough light to see it on the nightstand).
So here is the card - voila!
Card Ingredients:
Paper - Enchanted Evening & black from Papertrey
Stamps - Through the Trees & Fancy Flourishes from Papertrey
Ink - Vintage Cream from Papertrey
Two-toned Embossing Powder - Midnight Gold from Moon Glow
Other - enchanted evening ribbon from Papertrey, button from Papertrey, Star Dust Stickles, snowflake brads from my stash.
I didn't have time to let the ink dry before buffing off the embossed trees, so I gently wiped it with a damp papertowel. I thought this gave a very nice wintry effect. The Fancy Flourish stamp looks like swirls of snow :) so I added a couple of snowflake brads. Not too bad for my tenth card (and I'm not showing you the previous nine - you should see my crafting area, let me post a quick photo).



You might be saying that's not so bad - well actually, the whole room looks like that right now. I'm just not backing up to show the whole mess. Anyway, I'm glad I have finally participated.

Chocolate Cake

My second post today! Scroll down for a project I posted earlier.

This post is a response to Diecut Diva's request for favorite family recipes. If you post a recipe on your blog and then add a link in her comments section you are eligible to win this.

This recipe is my husband's and son's absolute favorite cake. It's a snack cake so it is meant to be eaten sans icing. It also uses mayonnaise instead of eggs. You would never know the mayonnaise is in the cake, all you taste is moist, sweet chocolate cake. I know the recipe by heart.




Chocolate Snack Cake

1 cup cold water
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix water, mayo and vanilla. In another bowl, combine cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add sugar to mayo mixture and stir until sugar is blended. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and stir until moistened. Pour cake batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes* or until a cake tester shows clean.

*My oven typically runs hot so I do not bake the cake for more than 20 minutes. Overbaking will give you a dry, tasteless, crumbly cake and that would ruin the loveliness of this moist dessert.

If desired, sprinkle with some powdered sugar for a nice decorative effect.

Notes

Now with all my excuses behind me I've started doing some handiwork again :) Here is a notebook I made for a friend who just had surgery.



It's a plain composition book that I wrapped with a brown paper bag quite some time ago, so the paper isn't quite as tight and nice as I would have liked it. The paper used is from my scrap pile so I have no idea of the brand or the particular names for the colors (like marigold or sunshine yellow).

I do know the tools I used :) For the butterfly I used the QuicKutz butterfly. The grass or sea (if you think like my husband) was cut using EK Success Dotted Wave border punch. The sun was cut with my Spellbinder Classic Circles, then edged with Stampin Up Pumkin Pie classic ink. The letters were die cut from Cuttlebug's Olivia Alphabet. They are kind of thin and can be hard to work with, but I like the elegant look they give. The flower is a layered Martha Stewart Daisy punch, and the center is Doodlebugs Sugar Coating glitter in Bumblebee topped with a bit of Diamond glaze. And there you have it!

SUCCESS!!!

I am officially done with my reorganization! I have to tell you it feels really good to have that out of the way. I received my cabinet on Monday and have everything in it that was in plastic bins. So, here are some pictures of my space:





The space still has clutter and I don't think I will ever be fully rid of it (unless my house burns down) but I'm really happy with this.

And just for fun, here is a favorite movie character next to my computer monitor. Can you guess who this is?

It's so sad...

...but I can't even get to my blog on a regular basis. I'd apologize, but I don't even know if there is someone to apologize to. My husband? I'm not even sure if he reads my blog.

I'm the kind of person who either has a hundred projects started or a hundred waiting to be started - well, actually, it's both. My current project is reorganization, which has stalled any current and future crafting project. As you can see below, I can't even get to my crafting space.





It is my intent to put this mess into a craft organizer and have a space that would make Martha Stewart jealous (or at least a Martha Stewart wannabe).

I would actually get my act into gear if I had the CABINET that all the shelves (which I received last week) will go in. Sigh.

Sometime in my life I will be organized and I will be on top of things and I will finish what I started and I will keep a record of finished projects on my blog. Some time.

What time?

Where do all these crafty bloggers find the time to create these amazing projects and THEN spend the time putting them up on their blogs??
I'll admit I've been out of town for a bit and had NO internet access, so I was completely unable to post, BUT I've been home for a while now and can't get the opportunity to sit down and finish a project. I figure I'm either the world's greatest procastinator or I'm so severely time/organizationally challenged that I'm actually occupying a dimension in space that existed two days ago.
Right now, I have company visiting but have finally found some time for myself. What I have been doing with that time is a mystery to me. Wait, I do remember finishing a book called Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by The Waiter.

I thought I would really like this book. My family LOVES to eat out and I thought this would be a great way to learn the inside story of waiting tables. I voraciously worked my way through the first half of the book - I found the interaction between the kitchen staff, the waiter and his customers extremely fascinating. I liked the book up until the point I realized I was one of the customers the waiter hated.
"Why?" you might ask, "Would the waiter hate you?" Well, I tip on the total before tax, and I tip in such a manner that my bill total always comes out to an even dollar amount (20 percent, or darn near it). What can I say? It's much easier for me to subtract a even dollar amount from my checkbook. What really got under my skin was that the author put a tipper like myself in the "accountant" category and then wrote that "these people enjoy a special place in hell." I'm not a rude person, I say please, thank you, how are you, and so on. As I read on, I realized that the only customers that this waiter liked were those who tipped 25 percent AFTER taxes. Cynical was an understatement for this gentleman. Not everyone in the world is going to be sugar sweet and free with their money. Why hate the rest of us? I wonder if normal fits somewhere in this author's realm of waiting tables, or if there is just 25 percent tippers and everyone else (who, according to my understanding, are supposed to go to hell). Needless to say, I didn't like the book.
I'm now reading The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds. I think it was an Oprah pick sometime back. Sounds very interesting, and I hope to get through it in the next couple of weeks. I'll post a review and summary of the book in time (sometime, not sure when, but sometime).